Hey all,

Ground Control drops resource gathering and base building for battle tactics. Line of sight, elevation, foliage, and darkness all affect battle outcomes.

Ground Control’s story isn’t one to write home about. In fact, it’s laughably weak. Oh noes! The evil Crayven Corporation is at war with the crazy religious fanatics, the Order of the New Dawn. The only missing stereotype is the invasive Orwellian government (but I’m sure they’ll make an appearance in Ground Control 2). The music is reminiscent of Total Annihilation’s killer (but overly dramatic) soundtrack, but toned down a few notches (which is a good thing). The graphical effects aren’t amazing, but given that they are from 2000, it’s not bad at all. In particular I was impressed with the lens flare effects and explosions, which are a must for any game where lots of stuff blows up. I only wish that the view distance could be scaled a little better, but it’s no big deal.

A quick peek at the pre-mission screen shows the amount of depth that Ground Control offers.

When you get into the fray, you deploy your forces from dropships… and those are all the troops you get. The focus is always on your troops: where they are positioned, their firing discipline, formation, if they should use their special abilities; it’s all key to victory. Ground Control has a fair amount of friendly fire, so don’t advance into the base right after you ordered your artillery pieces to shell it, because you may be very, very sad with the outcome.

Holy crap, that's a lot of boom!

Overall, I’ve been impressed with Ground Control. It’s different enough to make it memorable, even through its mediocre storyline and questionable AI. I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to try to finish the campaign. I just have so many wonderful games to play. Stuff on tap: World of Goo, Lords of Magic.

Oh my!

-S